


Droon

by fencingfox



Series: This October Night [27]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fictober 2019, Gen, Inktober 2019, Kidnapping, Kinktober 2019, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Wax Play, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-05 13:26:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21209288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencingfox/pseuds/fencingfox
Summary: Miral's sudden disappearance puts her parents under stress. B'Elanna isn't happy that the last thing she did was ground Miral. It's practically enough to never ground her again.





	Droon

**Author's Note:**

> loQ por - little leaf

* * *

**| "Can you wait for me?" | ransom | wax play | coat |**

* * *

"Can you wait for me?" B'Elanna stills, even though all she wants to do is rush to the Captain's Ready Room. Tom jogs to catch up. "Thanks." They walk in step quickly down the hall together. "Where could Miral have gone?" B'Elanna shakes her head.

"I don't know." It terrifies her. Her baby hadn't responded to any of her hails. They step into the turbolift and request that it shoot to deck one without stopping. They get off quickly. B'Elanna leads the way across the Bridge to the Captain's Ready Room. She hears the door close behind Tom.

The Captain is sitting behind her desk while staring at her terminal. She's frowning and so is B'Elanna. Tom steps beside her on her left with his arms behind his back as is customary. She remembers herself and does the same.

"As you were, Lieutenants." B'Elanna can't bring herself to be completely at ease. Her baby girl is _missing_. The Captain turns the terminal to face B'Elanna. To her surprise, the Liiteva Captain they'd met is on screen. Hadn't they seen the last of them five years ago? The Captain hits play.

"Greetings Greatship _Voyager_. I apologize for causing you alarm at the absence of your future one. We determined she was of an age to be tested and given her...unusual parentage," Tom and B'Elanna share a look, "we couldn't resist administering a test!" The Liiteva chuckles. B'Elanna narrows her eyes. This isn't funny. "Trust she will be under the utmost care with our most skilled Test Maker." He smiles gently as if he isn't admitting to kidnapping Miral. "Please do not attempt to distract her. We want accurate test results." It sounds vaguely threatening. The video ends. The Captain intertwines her fingers under her chin.

"I take it Miral's absence is the cause for your request to meet?" B'Elanna nods.

"We—I'd," she feels guilty, "just grounded her. I was going to check up on her but when I got to her room, she'd been _gone_. She isn't responding to our hails either."

"Harry doesn't detect their ship anywhere. Are you certain you can't find her?"

"Completely certain," B'Elanna replies. The Captain sighs.

"I hate to say it, but I think it best to wait them out. They'd treated you two well enough when they took you five years ago. I have no reason to believe they won't extend the same hospitality to your daughter." B'Elanna nods, feeling sick to her stomach. She has no idea what these tests entail. For all she knows, they could be dangerous.

When they get back to their quarters, B'Elanna starts to pace. She feels Tom's eyes on her and she stops to look at him where he sits on the couch.

"What?"

"Relax, B'Elanna—"

"Relax?" She prickles. "This _is_ relaxed! Or would you rather I throw something?" He holds his hands in front of his chest placatingly.

"No, you're just making me anxious is all." B'Elanna growls.

"Good! Because you don't seem all that worried our _daughter_ has been _kidnapped_." His expression sours.

"I don't seem worried?" His voice is loud. She doesn't let him continue.

"We have no _idea_ what they're doing to her. They could be testing her—her pain tolerance with—with melted wax for all we know!" She doesn't know where that came from. It was simply the most outlandish test she could think of. The Liiteva aren't what she'd call civilized. They'd kidnapped her and Tom only five years ago and didn't seem morally concerned about it.

"B'Elanna, I'm sick to my stomach. If you make me any more anxious, I'll throw up." He sighs. "I don't want to fight. Come here?" She teeters on her feet. On the one hand, pacing is venting her frustration. On the other hand, she knows Tom well enough to realize he needs physical comfort at a time like this. She just might need it too. B'Elanna moves to sit beside Tom. He wraps his arms around her and she folds her legs under herself on the couch cushion. From this angle, she can see inside Miral's open doorway and the scattered toys resting on the floor there. The sight makes her chest tight. She can't imagine never seeing Miral play with them again so soon. They're silent for a long time before Tom speaks.

"Now might be a bad time to bring this up...." B'Elanna sighs.

"Go ahead." Tom hesitates.

"Did you mean what you said about wanting another kid?" B'Elanna isn't sure at the moment. They can hardly keep track of one five-year-old. What will it be like with a five-year-old and a baby? She admits, it wouldn't actually be that difficult to keep track of them both. Babies don't get around much. A younger brother or sister might make Miral more inclined to be careful. She doesn't answer right away so Tom continues. "I mean, I always pictured myself with more than one kid. I wouldn't want anyone to be lonely." He's rambling like he does when he's passionate about something. "I think four is a good number. With three someone never wants to play and then you can only play two-player games. I think Miral would be a stellar older sister! She has Naomi as a role model and she's already really good with Harry's kids." _Okay, he's thought about this._

"Tom." He quiets. She can only just imagine having another kid. Four seems like a bit much. Plus, where would they keep them all? She'd always known Tom to be a bit of a family man. His devotion to creating family-friendly Captain Proton novels and watching childish movies is a testament to that. She feels silly that she ever doubted his devotion to Miral. "If Miral comes back okay, and we aren't pulled into a war with the Liiteva, then...." She actually hadn't figured out the end of her thought. She'd expected Tom to interrupt her with more reasons why another kid is a good idea. "Then, we can try for another kid." Tom squeezes her.

"_When_ Miral comes back," she doesn't miss the stress, "we'll set some time aside." She's grateful that his tone is measured and not seductive. She doesn't have the emotional fortitude to handle a seductive Tom right now.

"Captain to Lieutenants Paris and Torres." Tom taps his commbadge first.

"We're here."

"Please report to my Ready Room. We have some guests you will be interested in." If she'd sounded glad to be calling them, B'Elanna would have supposed she meant Miral. That she sounds stern worries her.

"Acknowledged. Paris out." B'Elanna extricates herself from Tom's arms and waits for him to rise as well. They slip on their boots quickly and make for the Captain's Ready Room.

B'Elanna is the first inside again. When she sees the Liiteva from the video in front of Captain Janeway on the upper level, she lunges forward. Tom captures her arms.

"Give us back our daughter, petaQ!" The Liiteva seems taken aback. Captain Janeway shoots her a scolding look.

"We assure you we meant no harm. Your daughter is truly remarkable. She passed all of the tests with flying colors."

"Then where is she?" Tom asks.

"Ah, that. That is an interesting story. The Test Maker tasked with administering tests reported to me earlier this day that your future one was transported off our ship. At first we thought this had been your doing, but upon further scans, we found her on a Droon support vessel." B'Elanna's face whitens. This. This is what she'd feared the most.

"What do you think they want with her?" The Liiteva sits down on the Captain's couch. No one else sits.

"They supplied us a message soon after we detected their complicity." He gestures to the Captain. She quickly produces her terminal for Tom and B'Elanna. They approach her desk to watch. The Droon, or _Droons_, before her—she isn't sure since the humanoid has two heads—scowls at the screen. Or at least one of the heads do. The other is smiling broadly. B'Elanna isn't sure whether to judge the creature on the whole as happy or angry. The Captain plays the video.

"HELLO." The heads speak in unison to greet them. "Ally of Liiteva," says the scowling head, "you are not welcome, but your weapons and shields please us." The smiling head laughs and cocks its head eerily. "Daughter we have. For schematics we return." The video cuts to black and ends on a still frame of Miral. She's focused on an array of cards. There's another Liiteva watching over her. B'Elanna feels sick. The Captain has a long history of not sharing technology even if doing so will make their lives infinitely easier. She has no confidence that the Captain will put aside her Star Fleet ideals for Miral. It makes her despise her.

"What are the Droon like?" Tom questions. "Why are you fighting them?" He's visibly shaking. B'Elanna puts her hand on his arm and he stills somewhat. She slides her hand down to hold his.

"They are unreasonable, ill-mannered, and psychotic." B'Elanna's stomach lurches. _Miral._ She can only hope that Miral can hold her own or know enough not to provoke any harsh treatment. Her life may very well depend on it.

"We have not discussed this: how likely are the Droon to negotiate?" The Liiteva shakes his head.

"Unlikely. Our war began when one of my kind did not return a ceremonial coat of arms at their specified time. They took offense." The Captain purses her lips.

"What are their battle capabilities?"

"Superior to our own, but maybe not to yours."

"Captain, we don't know how our weapons will affect them. We could hurt Miral," Tom protests. The Captain waves her hand and smiles at them honestly.

"I have no intention of firing on their ship." She looks back at the Liiteva Captain. "Have you detected other Droon?"

"We have," the Liiteva nods formally. "We detected a second supply ship within communications range." The Captain nods and looks to Tom.

"Good. Tom, ready the _Flyer._" She looks at her. "B'Elanna, go with him." They both nod but wait to be dismissed. "I will inform you of our plan when you are ready."

**=/\=**

The _plan_—B'Elanna doesn't think highly of it—is for _Voyager_ to threaten the second Droon ship long enough for the first (with Miral) to lower shields and teleport their comrades to their ship. They don't even know for sure if the Droon supply ships are equipped with transporters.

"You okay?" Tom calls back to her. They'd been waiting for _Voyager_'s signal and a gigabytes worth of horrible images had crossed her mind in that time.

"No."

"Me neither." She looks at her husband. He appears to be staring calmly out the viewport even if she can't see his face. She doesn't want to assume though. He probably had been upset earlier and she was just too upset herself to notice. "But I trust the Captain. We'll get her back." B'Elanna nods because that's what she's supposed to do. She skims the readouts again, willing a message to appear. There's still nothing from _Voyager_.

"_Voyager to the Flyer._" The Captain cuts through the heavy air on the ship's comm. "_Are you ready?_"

"We're ready. B'Elanna?"

"Ready." _Voyager_ already had their shields on a rotating frequency in anticipation of the fire fight, but Tom and B'Elanna won't be fighting this time. Their only job is to bring Miral home. She hovers her fingers over the transporter lock. As soon as the Droon's shields are down (if they go down) she'll grab Miral. Once Miral is safe on board, she'll scramble their frequencies to keep themselves from being abducted back again. Normally, transports were an ops thing so she's sitting at the ops console to Tom's left. She's glad the Captain told her to tag along, but she hopes Carey can handle the engine while she's gone. Tom and her can't save everyone.

"_Stay in our wake until you detect active transports._" It didn't really need to be said, but Captain Janeway is anything but half-baked.

"Acknowledged," Tom replies. He maneuvers the _Flyer_ a little closer to _Voyager_'s belly. He follows _Voyager_ as she closes in on the far Droon ship. B'Elanna watches her readings intently. She detects no transports. From the underbelly of _Voyager_, she can't see or hear any phaser fire. It's unsettling to say the least. If it weren't for the acrobatic maneuvers Tom needs to use to keep up with the summersaulting and diving _Voyager_, she wouldn't know that they were fighting. Since Tom's other child is the _Flyer_, he flies with such ease that she has to actually look out the viewport for a glimpse of action. She only glimpses out the window. Her heart is pounding too loudly to permit anything else. She needs to see the Droon transporting their wounded across ships.

_There._

A blip on the sensors alerts her to the first transport. She waits, wanting to make sure it isn't her eager imagination. There's another quiet blip.

"Their shields are down!" She shouts at Tom. She mentally urges Tom to move quicker. When they round _Voyager_'s underbelly, she sees with muted awe the dazzling display of firepower _Voyager_ has to offer. When the ship isn't shuddering around you, a fire fight is something beautiful. She drags her eyes back to the console and waits for it to detect Miral. It doesn't take long. She locks onto her life sign and hoists her onto the _Flyer_ with bated breath. So far so good: the transport is not fluctuating beyond reason. She can hear the steady pulse of the transporter coalescing her daughter behind her. When it reads success, she puts the shields on a rotating frequency and turns around.

"Mommy!" B'Elanna bursts into a smile and holds her arms out for Miral to run into. She happily does. While hugging her, B'Elanna pats down her back, arms, legs, and pulls away to pat her neck looking for injuries. "I'm _fine_." Miral lightly swats at B'Elanna's hands. B'Elanna pulls her into another hug.

"I'm so glad to see you, loQ por." B'Elanna sways her daughter side to side. She turns her head to look out the viewport. Seems the Droon are retreating. Tom is turning around for _Voyager_. She turns back to kiss Miral's head.

"Does that mean I'm not grounded anymore?" She hears Tom laugh behind her.

"You know what, if you promise not to touch Mommy's tools again then you're no longer grounded."

"I promise." B'Elanna pulls away from Miral and tucks her long hair behind her ears.

"Good girl." She turns Miral around and pulls her into her lap before turning back to the Ops console.

"Why are you sitting at Ops instead of Engineering?" B'Elanna stares down at the back of her little girl's head.

"How do you know that?"

"Daddy may have took her for a few trips in the _Flyer_," Tom answers.

"A _few_?" Tom had never asked her about taking her. Plus, she's only five, when did they have time to do that? Miral giggles.

"They were our _secret_." Well, she can't blame Miral. Or maybe she could: she's gotten good at 'puppy dog' eyes. Tom's less immune to them than she is. Tom parks the _Flyer_ within the confines of _Voyager_.

"So you're keeping secrets from me?" B'Elanna asks playfully. She sighs dramatically, "since I already ungrounded you...I'll just have to call..._the tickle monster_!" She tickles Miral in earnest, keeping her restrained enough so she doesn't kick something on the console. When she's pleading for Daddy to help _save_ her, _please_, Tom comes to the back of the shuttle.

"Don't worry! Captain Proton will save you!" B'Elanna grins at him and they manage to hand off Miral in a way that still seems like he'd fought for Miral.

"Agh! The tickle monster is no match for Captain Proton." Tom's holding her like a baby while kneeling on the floor. They nuzzle noses. B'Elanna makes to pull a vial out of her pocket, "But is he any match for my tickle gas?" They'd traded a lot of the vaguely sexual items from Captain Proton for childish things. Arachnia's pheromones became tickle gas. She makes a show of uncorking the imaginary vial while moving to the floor to waft it in front of Tom. Miral is wide-eyed and already trying to scramble to the shuttle exit, but the gas takes hold and Tom grabs her to tickle her some more.

"Oh no! I can't resist it! I'm...going...to tickle you!" Miral squeals but actually manages to slip free. She pretends like she throws a net over Tom and B'Elanna both. Then she runs up to kiss his cheek—the cure for tickle gas. The imaginary net forgotten, Tom pulls Miral into a hug. "I got you a surprise, loQ por." B'Elanna rolls her eyes at the heavy gutteral sound he overuses. He'd been intrigued when she first started calling Miral the nickname. She'd almost forgotten that her mother used it when she was a little girl before switching to Lanna. One night, the Captain told Miral about fall in Indiana and how all the leaves changed color. Miral asked to color a _little leaf_ the next day.

"A _surprise_? Will I _like_ the surprise?" Tom laughs.

"It's to _die_ for." B'Elanna's missing something. They're definitely quoting a movie at each other. Miral giggles. "Let's go see it?" Tom releases Miral and she leads the way to their quarters. The Captain will want a report soon, but right now, B'Elanna can't stand to be separated from her family. She stands and follows them out. Miral rises on her toes to enter their family password and then barrels inside for the couch. She hops up on it, making it bounce a little. B'Elanna sits on one side of her and pulls Miral to rest against her. They both watch Tom go into the bedroom and return with an engineering kit.

"Tom," she warns.

"Don't worry, it's safe." She doesn't know about that, and holds Miral a little closer. She wonders suspiciously if he'd taken her comment seriously about hurting Miral with every one of her tools so she'd stay away. Tom opens the kit on the coffee table. The tools are all there. Tom picks up the hyperspanner and offers it to B'Elanna first. She expects it to be heavier than it is. There's even a button on its handle and it's smooth plastic. She gestures to the kit.

"Are they all toys?"

"Almost. I've been replicating them for about a month." He offers Miral a toy tricorder. She holds it with two hands and presses the buttons. B'Elanna realizes that it's not actually a toy tricorder. "Only the tricorder is real." He looks at B'Elanna for approval. She nods. A tricorder won't hurt Miral. Miral slides down like a snake to kneel in front of the coffee table. She sets the tricorder down and starts pulling the toys out one at a time to line up outside the kit. B'Elanna puts the hyperspanner next to the microscanner.

"Are they all mine?"

"All yours. And Mommy can't touch them unless she asks first." Miral laughs.

"Maybe I can help in engineering now!" B'Elanna has the vivid image of getting frustrated with a nonresponsive hyperspanner only to realize it's actually Miral's toy. She shakes her head.

"Not just yet." Tom ruffles Miral's hair before she can get upset.

"We'll just use them on the _Flyer_, Miral. Now off to bed you."

Miral pouts.

"But I don't want to." It is a little early yet. She could stay up. They could watch a cartoon and let her fall asleep to that. Tom looks at B'Elanna and she remembers their conversation. She's surprised he'd want to start _now_. She hasn't even had her booster revoked.

"We can see if Naomi wants to have a sleep over?" B'Elanna offers. Miral lights up. Tom does too. He taps his commbadge to request Samantha. She answers quickly and happily permits Miral to sleep over. Her and Naomi will be by in a little bit. That gives them time to pack Miral's new toys and some clothes for tomorrow. B'Elanna helps with the toys, admiring them while Miral hastily shoves them back into the kit. B'Elanna gets the message and decides she'll look at them later. Miral shoots like a torpedo for her bedroom to pack clothes. B'Elanna stands and lets her go. She's old enough now to be reasonably trusted with choosing clothes alone. Tom approaches her to hold her by her waist closely. She hums when he presses her into a kiss.

"I hope you're not too used to this," she says, thinking about how big she'd gotten with Miral.

"I hope _you're_ not too used to it," he cuts back. She draws away because she's laughing and because she doesn't want Miral to see Tom giving her neck an inordinate amount of kisses.

"Hey, I agreed to _one_ more, hotshot." He laughs.

"You know, there's a hormone in humans that makes women forget how horrible pregnancy is." She cocks her eyebrow.

"Is that a threat?" He shrugs at her and grins ferally.

"Could be." She rolls her eyes before resting her head sideways on his chest where she can watch Miral's room.

"You're impossible."

"But not impossible to resist." She feels her cheeks redden.

"Don't mention S-A-K-A-R-I near M-I-R-A-L." Tom chuckles.

"What? Do you know how many adult jokes are in kid's shows? She's fine." B'Elanna pouts.

"Still." Miral runs into the living room with a backpack on.

"Ready!" The door chimes a moment later and Miral runs to the door to open it. Naomi and Miral hug, laugh, giggle, and Miral runs back to the coffee table for her kit in the time it takes for Tom and B'Elanna to greet Samantha at the door. Tom's arm around B'Elanna's waist isn't lost on her, judging by her knowing smile.

"Have fun you two." Samantha ushers the girls away and the door closes. Tom turns to hold her again.

"Alone at last." He kisses her for a long time, making pleasurable tingles run up her spine. "Are you sure about having another kid?" She nods.

"We can't do it tonight though, unless you plan on seeing the Doctor first." Tom leads her to their bedroom by her hand.

"Lucky for you, I happen to know a guy." They stop at the dresser and he opens his top drawer to dig around in it. He produces a hypospray. "This will help." B'Elanna stares at the hypospray. It could only be one thing. How long had he been thinking about having another kid?

"You just have an anti-birthcontrol _lying_ around?" He shrugs.

"I wanted to be prepared." He steps closer and holds it in a 'may I' gesture. She bares her neck to him slightly and feels the sting of the medicine at it dispenses into her neck. He digs around in the dresser. When he finds it, he replaces the used canister with a fresh one and turns the hypospray on himself. He puts the hypospray back in the dresser and closes it before pulling her to his chest for another kiss. He pivots them toward the bed and walks her backwards to it.

When they get close. He pulls away to undress her slowly, untucking her tops, unzipping her jacket, sliding the sleeves down her arms, letting it fall, and finally tugging her turtleneck over her head. When he removed her bra she begins to undress him just as slow. It has been a while. She wants this and the butterflies last.

B'Elanna unzips his jacket while untucking it, places her hand on his chest, steals a kiss while dragging his jacket down his arms, and pulls away to let him take his turtleneck off. She leans up for another long kiss. Her fingers slide half along his pants and half along his exposed skin towards his back. He groans when she rakes her fingernails on his skin for the return trip.

She makes quick work of his pants button and zipper. B'Elanna pulls his pants and boxers down halfway but returns to kiss his chest and take another kiss. After he steps out of his clothes, he renews his focus on her. His hands slide along her warmed waist, down to her butt where he squeezes her cheeks before bringing his hands to her front. He undos her pants with slow and measured fingers that send shivers of anticipation coursing through her. Tom pushes her onto the bed roughly and B'Elanna smirks. He tugs her pants and panties all the way off her legs and clambers over her to kiss her.

"Do you hear that?" Tom asks after the second faint chirp. It takes B'Elanna a moment to recognize it.

"Commbadge." She sighs and pushes gently on Tom's shoulder so he'll let her up. She has a feeling who is calling and Tom's in no state to leave. As she expects, when she presses her badge, Miral answers.

"Mommy, I forgot Toby." B'Elanna looks over at Tom reclining on the bed naked. He's a sight. B'Elanna sighs and responds to the call.

"Want me to bring him to you?"

"Can you, _pleeeease?_"

"Sure. I'll be over in a minute." B'Elanna closes the link and starts putting her clothes on, starting with her turtleneck. Tom huddles against her back.

"She has horrible timing." B'Elanna laughs.

"You sure you want another kid?" She asks playfully. He slides a hand under her turtleneck. Her stomach tingles at the touch.

"Definitely," he murmurs against her neck.

"Easy Tom, I still have to get to Samantha's." Tom groans when he releases her. She smirks at his discomfort.

"Hurry back." She twists to peck him on the lips.

"I will." She wants to say something more, something to keep the mood around even after she leaves to tend to Miral, something to show him that he hasn't lost his place in her heart. She kisses him again for longer. "I love you. I can't wait to have another kid with you." Tom smiles and tilts his head to hers. They bump noses.

"Me neither."


End file.
